Taking a Shot at Love

The Penguins had just lost to the Rangers 3-2 in Overtime, the mood in the locker room wasn’t the best, Sid was obviously upset but Jordan was nervous. Earlier, he had talked to Marc about meeting Alex, the first family member to meet his girlfriend, Marc of course had jumped at the chance the meet the girl that he could tell had changed his little brother. To make matters worse, Jordan couldn’t play tonight and Marc had scored a goal, not the winning goal but the tying goal. He ran his fingers through his golden locks as he left the locker room. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw Alex waiting for him, “Hey babe, ready to meet Marc?”

Alex smiled nervously, "As ready as I'll ever be," She said.

He smiled and leaned down and kissed her softly, “Don’t worry, Marc will love you.”

"But what if he doesn't?" She asked after kissing him back.

Jordan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him, “Listen to me, it is impossible not to like you. Plus, Marc is the easiest of the brothers. Eric is the hardest because he is the oldest. Just take a deep breath and relax.”

Alex hugged Jordan, and did what he said; took a deep breath and relaxed.

“Now, let’s go see Marc, he’s in the visitor’s locker room,” He said taking her hand in his non-broken hand. “I talked with Marc-Andre today, just for you.”

"Oh I'm glad," She said, smiling up at him as they walked to the visitor's locker room.

As the walked into the locker room heads turned to see who it was. Marc was at his locker with his back to them, Jordan wanted to have fun but the goalie Henrik Lundqvist ruined his fun.

“Hey, Staalsy your brother is here with a very gorgeous girl,” Lundqvist said with a smile as Marc turned around.

“Hey Jordan, I’ll be ready in a second,” Marc said smiling at his brother. He finished packing his bag and handed it to the equipment before looking at his brother and Alex. “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Marc this is Alex,” Jordan said with a smile. “Alex, this is my older brother Marc.”

"Nice to finally meet you," Alex said with a smile, sticking her hand out for him to shake.

“Nice to meet you too,” Marc said looking at her hand before pulling her into a hug and whispering. “Thank you.”

"For what?" Alex asked, hugging him back.

He smiled, “Nothing, you’ll find out soon enough.” Marc turned to Jordan. “How you got someone so beautiful is beyond me.”

Jordan shook his head, “I should kick your ass.”

“Like you could,” He said smiling. “Especially with a bum hand.”

“Shut up,” Jordan said pulling Alex back towards him away from his brother. “Let’s just go get some food.”

Alex was confused, but brushed it off as no big deal. "Where are we going?" she asked, wrapping an arm around Jordan as they all started walking out.

“I was thinking Primanit Bros,” Jordan said looking at Marc. “Is that okay?”

Marc nodded, “If it is okay with Alex. She’s the lady, so she should choose.”

"That's fine with me," Alex said smiling. "You know I'm up for anything, as long as it's not seafood."

Jordan kissed her forehead and they headed toward the restaurant. He couldn’t believe how lucky he got with Alex. She was completely amazing and she knew hockey and understood his life style. He smiled as they sat down at the table.

“So,” Marc said with a smile. “I heard you gave my brother a hard time.”

“Seriously, Marc,” Jordan said glaring at him. “Do you have anything better to do than pick on me?”

Marc shook his head, “Nope. It’s my job to mess with you little brother.”

"I did not give him a hard time, I gave him a practical time." Alex said logically.

“Mom said he was calling her like two times a week trying to figure you out,” Marc said laughing. “Ow, Jordan, I’m just saying what mom told Lindsey. Apparently, they had a girl talk about you.”

“You don’t have to share it though,” Jordan said through gritted teeth. “You as bad as Jared but at least Jared gets his information the good old fashion way, spying.”

Alex laughed looking between the two of them, enjoying watching the brothers together. "Yea know, spying isn't always the best thing to do, but it was extremely fun," she said, remembering times Haley and her had spied on her parents when they were talking about presents.

“Jared is a pro,” Jordan said smiling. “That’s how Marc got in trouble for breaking mom’s vase.”

“You broke that vase, and blamed it on me,” Marc said smiling than turned to Alex. “So, how is Haley doing? Lindsey would kill me if I didn’t find that out while I’m here.”

"She's doing a lot better," Alex said, glad that Haley and Sid were finally together.

“That’s good, Lindsey will be happy to hear that. She almost didn’t let her go to the hotel,”
Marc said smiling. “But Haley put up a fight. I have to say punching Tony was fun.”

“I wish I was there to help,” Jordan said smiling. “It would have been nice. Surprised Lindsey didn’t give you a hard time for that.’

“She did but she then remembered what happened and I still had to sleep on the couch but only for a night. Not like the time I took you out in the playoffs, I was on the couch for a week,” He said shaking his head. “And you wouldn’t be much help, with your broken hand and I’m sure Alex would be upset with you for that.”

"You have no idea," Alex told them.

The waitress came over and her eyes widen when she saw Jordan and Marc, obviously she knew who they were, Jordan wrapped his arm around Alex as they ordered, to make it obvious that he had a girlfriend, but not like it helped much. It annoyed him that girls still threw themselves at him even though he had a girlfriend of course he refused them but still bothered him and part of him knew it bothered Alex too, even if she didn’t show it. Sometimes he wondered if she thought he’d go back to his man-whoring ways and cheat on her but he hoped she knew he wouldn’t do that. The waitress left after Marc and Jordan ordered about half the menu each and Alex ordered her usual. He watched Marc and Alex interact with a smile; she fit in perfectly with his family. She didn’t take anyone’s crap; it was one of the many things he loved about her. He smiled and kissed her forehead. Jordan was happy, happier than he had been in a long time.

Alex grabbed Jordan's hand as he kissed her forehead, and then felt a glare her way. She looked up, and it was their waitress. She glared back, then said, "If she doesn't stop, you're going to have to hold me back babe."

“I might not hold you back,” Jordan said with a smile. “It would be hot to see you fight.”

“Jordan,” Marc said laughing. “We don’t need to get kicked out. Especially since you have more press now. You got enough at Eric’s bachelor party. Imagine the shit you’d get for the fight.”

"What happened at Eric's bachelor party?" She asked, forgetting about the waitress.

“I may or may not have been arrested for underage drinking,” Jordan said smiling. “Eric got arrested for disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. I got charged with that too. They were misdemeanors though.”

"And you're happy about this?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow, forcing herself not to think about drinking.

“No, I was smiling at the memories we had at the party not the fact I was arrested. I think I was more afraid of mom’s reaction than Ray’s or Mario’s at the time. My mom is scary,” Jordan said shaking his head. “I was young and stupid.”

“You’re still stupid,” Marc said with a smile. “That’s why I don’t know how you got Alex to be your girlfriend.”

"Hey!" Alex said coming to his defence. "He is not stupid!!"

Marc laughed, “Yea, I know. Just makes some stupid choices.”

“I’ve stopped drinking,” Jordan said looking at Marc. “I’m made stupid choices but now I’m trying to move on.”

“Yea, I know and I’m happy for you little brother, I really am,” Marc said smiling as the food came. “About time you grew up a little.”

“So, are you ever going to make Lindsey a part of the family?” Jordan asked with a smile.

“I’m thinking about it,” Marc said smiling. “Some day soon.”

"Oh, that's exciting," Alex said smiling, loving talks about marriage.

“Lindsey’s great,” Jordan said smiling. “Marc’s lucky.”

“That I am, but so are you,” Marc said nodding at Alex.

Jordan smiled and kissed her cheek, “I know I am.”

Alex blushed, then looked down at her plate. "Something doesn't look right," she said. She had ordered a BLT without tomatoes, since she was allergic, and could tell something was off, but tell what it was.

“What’s wrong?” Jordan asked looking at her sandwich. “Does it have tomatoes on it? Cause if it does, I’m going to get the manager.”

"I don't know," she said. Then she lifted up the bread and looked underneath, and there were tomatoes all over the BLT. Just the smell of them made her sick, and she had to push the plate away.

Jordan was seething mad when he saw the sandwich; he called over the waitress and asked to talk to the manger. When the manger came over, he took a deep breath to calm himself down, “I would like to inform you that your waitress decided to “forget” to say no tomatoes on my girlfriend sandwich even though she had been told not to put any on there because my girlfriend is allergic to them. I do not appreciate that she was ignored.”

“I’m so sorry sir,” The manager said looking at the waitress in question. “We will make your girlfriend a new sandwich and the food is on us. I’m truly sorry about this.” He walked away and motioned for the waitress to follow him.

“I can’t believe it,” Jordan said shaking his head. “How dare she do that? What if you ate that? You could have gotten seriously sick.”

"It's okay," Alex said, smiling at how protective of her he was. If this had been her parents, they would have made her eat it, but luckily she hasn't seen them in years. "You're amazing," she said kissing him.

He kissed her softly and sighed, “It’s not right. I’m glad you caught it, if something had happened to you, I would have gone nuts.”

"I know, but we're lucky that I know how the BLT's look without tomatoes," She said.

The manager came back with the new sandwich, luckily with no tomatoes, “I’m truly sorry about that. I’ve never had a waitress do that. She’s been fired for her mistake. It will never happen again. Enjoy your dinner.”

"Thank you so much sir," Alex said, smiling at the manager.

He left and they started eating. When they were done, Marc and Jordan took Alex back to her apartment. Jordan was going to take Marc to the hotel to meet up with his team before they left.

Marc smiled, “It was a pleasure meeting you. Keep him in line for me.” He gave her a small hug.

"It was great meeting you too," She said hugging him back. "I'm glad I finally met one of you."

“I’ll have to stop by and see you when I’m in Pittsburgh again in December for a game,” Marc said smiling. “I’m glad I was the first one to meet you. Jared is a bit crazy and Eric is the oldest so he’d be hard on you at first but if you meet me and Jared before you meet Eric, he’ll be fine.”

"Are you sure?" Alex asked, worried.

“Don’t worry,” He said looking at Jordan. “Eric pretends to be a hard-ass because he doesn’t want us to get hurt but he’ll love you. Especially after I talk to him tonight.”

“You’re talking to Eric tonight?” Jordan asked confused.

“Yea, he found out from Jared that I was meeting Alex tonight, so we are having a three-way call to talk about it,” Marc said laughing. “It was like when Eric met Lindsey and the three of you had your call. Don’t think I didn’t know about that.”

"You guys three way call each other?" Alex asked, smiling.

“Sometimes it is all of us on a phone,” Marc said smiling. “All depends on the topic. If it is a girlfriend it is only three, we leave the other one out so he has to guess what we think. Actually, we talk to him individually after we meet the girlfriend and tell him. That’s the real reason he’s taking me back to the hotel.”

“Marc, stop talking and get in the car so I can say goodbye to Alex,” Jordan pushing his older brother way. Marc laughed said goodbye one last time to Alex before getting into Jordan’s car. “I’ll call you tomorrow or stop by work.” Jordan smiled and kissed her softly. “Sweet dreams.”

Alex kissed back, and smiled at him as they pulled away from each other. "Sweetest dreams baby," She said as she watched him walk away.

Jordan smiled as he got back into the car, “So what do you think?”

“I think she’s amazing,” Marc said looking at Jordan. “When are you going to tell her that you love her?”

“I know she’s amazing,” Jordan said avoiding answering the question. “I’m glad you like her. Tell Eric that too. I don’t want him being too hard on her.”

“I’ll tell Eric everything I saw tonight,” He said smiling at Jordan. “When are you going to tell her?”

“When I’m ready too,” Jordan said shaking his head and pulling up to the hotel. “Seriously Marc, I just want to take things at a steady pace. When I’m ready to tell her that I love her, I will. I just don’t want to lose her.”

Marc nodded, “I understand. She loves you too, Jordan. I can see it in the way she looks at you.” He got out of the car. “Be safe and I’ll see you soon. Don’t worry, everything will be fine.”

Jordan watched as Marc went into the hotel, he was glad that at least one of his brothers was on his side and he knew that having Marc on his side would make introducing her to Eric and Jared ten times easier, he just hoped that she felt the same way about him that he felt about her. He made his way back to his apartment and crashed but not before sending a thank you up to heaven for sending Alex his way, because he truly didn’t know what he’d do without her.